| When is a Web Site Like a Hershey Bar? You wouldn’t want to live in a house that looked exactly like 200
other homes in your neighborhood, would you? Well, then why have a web site that looks
exactly like 200 other web sites?
Surfing the Net across the country I see agents with sites
that are virtually identical to those of other agents in their same Realty® firm office.
The only difference on each site is the agent’s photo and his bio info. To me, this
is about as distinctive as living in one of those 200 homes, except in this case
you’d nail a big photo of yourself on the front door above a sign showing your bio.
These pre-formatted "template" sites are actually
quite good sites in themselves. They include a means for the visitor to search for
homes locally and nationally—typically at Realtor.com—plus they have links for
weather, making maps, news, stock reports, yellow pages and perhaps one or two more
"info" links.
They may also include links or information about mortgage
rates, title insurance, school and community information—actually most all the
informative stuff that a good Realtor site ought to offer. The problem is, if
everyone’s web site looks the same and offers exactly the same stuff, how can any one
individual agent stand apart in the minds of the visitor? Hey, isn’t that the goal?
Now, don’t get me wrong. The agents buying these
"me-too" sites are better off than when they had no site at all, or just a
single page "epitaph" site (lookie, lookie me!) like many still do. It’s
just that a web site ought to project something of the agent’s personality to
the visitor. And that is difficult to do when you’ve not taken a hand yourself in the
development of your own site (except for some text), opting instead to have a web design
firm "fit you into" a "canned," graphical format. One that merely
satisfies your need to tell prospects, "Yes, indeed, I do have a web
site."
The danger here for agents who may be jumping onto this
seemingly quick, easy and inexpensive "quick-fix" solution to having a good
site, lies in the answer to this question: How do you tell one Hershey bar from another?
Answer: You don’t. And that’s what Internet home buyers and sellers may think,
too.
Ultimately, they may decide to ignore ALL Realtors who have
gotten those "canned" look-alike sites. Why shouldn’t they? After all,
they’ll be saying to themselves, "Well, I can skip this Realtor’s
site because after seeing the others, I already know what’s in it."
So now you know, too—maybe what those web site design
firms touted to some big Realty firms and to some agents as a good deal was really not
completely thought through to its logical conclusion. Maybe the good deal goes away once
dozens of agents all display basically the same site. Once again, we are reminded that
there are no free lunches!
If you already got one of these sites, what can you do?
Sadly, not much, since most of the site is in a set format. Next time you’ll opt for
a custom, "changeable" site, not a canned one.
Think of your web site as your home—and yourself as the
host. Offer guests the same meal each visit, and they won’t return. Vary your
menu—even offering exciting, exotic choices—and they will.
© William Koelzer, March 26, 1998
(As originally published in June, 1998
Broker*Agent Magazine, Orange County/Coastal Edition) |
